Ocala teacher accused of drowning raccoons during class

A central Florida high school teacher is on paid administrative leave after cell phone video appears to show him drowning wild raccoons during class. Dewie Brewton, an agriculture teacher, was working at the high school since 2006.

The mother of one of the students who was in the class Monday, who asked to remain anonymous, said her son came home in tears over what happened to the animals, which the teacher said had been killing the class's chickens.

"Some students were left with nightmares after the sixth-period agricultural science class", a student told Channel 9.

The raccoons reportedly created a nuisance and killed several chickens that were being raised by the students and staff in a shed behind the school premises.

The video below was recorded as the raccoons were being drowned. Her son informed her the creatures had been trapped in cages as they had been being drowned. "And that's how they killed the second one". The raccoons were apparently caught by the agriculture teacher. A representational image of raccoon from North America waiting for meal at Jatim 2 Secret Zoo in Batu, East of Java Province, Indonesia.

But the mother of the student who filmed the incident remains unconvinced that the raccoons were handled in the appropriate manner.

"My son stood within the background, hid his telephone and watched as they stuffed these trash cans filled with water, and held these raccoons down in trash cans within the cages", the dad or mum informed the station. It made me sick to my stomach. It made me sick to my stomach. "It's bad. It still does make me sick to my stomach", said the mother, who did not want to be identified. "They should have trapped the animal and had somebody take them and relocate the animals", a parent told WKMG.

As of Tuesday night, he is on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation. Until our investigation is complete, I can not share further details.

'The district is determining the status of the teacher at this moment'.

Officials from both the school district and the FFWCC have not yet confirmed whether the animals died as a result of the incident, citing the matter was "still under investigation".